DMP & Mutual Support Thread - Part 11

Puzzcat

DG1976 wrote: »

Hi, just a quick update from me as I know others on here have been worried about pay plan reviews and letters asking for bank statements etc. I ignored these requests as always and had my review a few days ago. The nice lady who phoned me didn't mention once that I hadn't sent them any "paperwork" and the review was all over and done with in 20 minutes so please don't stress about having to do them! I had the added bonus of another £1000 coming off my total due to updated creditor balances which was nice! 5 years in now and a starting debt of 45000 is now down to just over £6000 and we will be finished in September I can't believe it's nearly over! Keep going everyone you will get there eventually and it will be great!😀😀

Thank you for that lovely positive post.
Love puzz. x

make_the_change

Morning All,

Basically I have been reading this thread with great interest due to my own circumstances.

I am in approx £8K worth of debt which I am really struggling to pay each month. I feel so sad that after getting debt free 4 years ago I am back to square one. Mostly due to personal circumstances taking a dramatic change and living well out of our means. It's become so depressing that I lay awake at night worrying, upset, depressed.

I have spoken to StepChange and they recommended a DMP. This makes me feel a sense of relief but also worry. I have read about building an emergency fund before starting a DMP and this would be much needed. I have already started a £1 a day challenge for Christmas 2016. I am just scared of the token payments and what will happen whilst I delay starting a DMP.

Advice / guidance greatly welcome. Just want to have one night where I can sleep without worry. Thanks.

phoenixx

Brogden wrote: »

Phoenixx and CBC......you have my complete sympathy and understanding. This is the worst part of debt and DMP's . As Sazzie says.....it stinks. Sure....we know CRA's have to exist in some form but they are massively overused and their importance is very 'puffed up.' It sometimes seems that we can't even go to the loo without a credit check being carried out first :rotfl:!! Perhaps we might be irresponsible and use too much toilet roll :rotfl:!!

This credit check stuff has worried me for years and was my only real concern when I was made redundant. Anyway.....I came clean in discussion. It was a bit painful to have an upbeat conversation for two hours knowing I had baggage to dump at the end :eek:. All was fine !!

Whilst we are all fairly private in real life, I think we are kindest to ourselves if we don't put ourselves under too much strain by trying to appear to be absolutely perfect. We are then probably more likeable too, rather than the 'holier than though's' and we all know people like that.....actors :mad: !!

It's a tough life, we all have bettle scars and some of these sit on our credit files . What I would say in the position of Phoenixx and CBC is make sure you give one good reason for any financial troubles IF you should decide to declare these. Something that a decent person can relate to and empathise with. I mentioned years of one income whilst the family cared for a dying parent. This is not a fib but true. If you cannot think of any paticular reason a fib may suffice !! Don't let somebody think you are just sloppy / careless / irresponsible etc!

We are so often 'doing ourselves down.' It's not the end of the world and we have not been relegated from the human race because of some debt trouble.

I appreciate that the cheque signing issue may stand in the way of this promotion Phoenixx but I am wondering if your main concern now is addressing your employer. If so I would strongly suggest pinpointing one reason for the debts and you may find this becomes very easy to deal with !!

Brogden

Thank you Brogden - you are right about the CRAs and their 'puffed up' importance. What you said got me thinking about how I got into the mess I am in with debt. The main reasons: when I split from my first husband things were very tough and I used credit to supplement my paltry income. I had given up my old better paid job to raise our daughter. Earning about a quarter of my ex husband's income, I found myself having to support 2 of us and pay the solicitor's fees that I had to pay to stop myself from losing everything. My new career meant starting from the bottom of the ladder again and I could barely afford heating and food when we split. Every time the solicitor wrote a letter it was £50 and meetings began to run to hundreds. When I met my second husband I was up to my neck in debt but at least I kept the car and negotiated a maintenance deal for my daughter.
My second husband had lots of student debt and a low paid job to start with. Unlike now, he had to start repaying the debt straight away even though his first annual income was £9000. We were constantly offered credit and foolishly took it thinking we'd come good as our pay went up. This happened slower than we would have liked and the debt crept up. We had to start over with a mortgage as my ex kept the house. We ticked along until about 2010 when suddenly creditors started lowering our limits and increasing interest. We did not miss payments to start with bit as things got tighter it all got harder and we nearly lost the house trying to keep unsecured creditors happy (we are so much more savvy now!)I became depressed and suicidal. We discovered step change (CCCS as it was then) and formed a plan that was unmanageable in the long run but Citizens Advice and this forum taught me so much and now we kind of get by. Bolts from the blue like car issues (on both cars at the same time) have hit us and tax demands from years back reaching about £6000.
I guess I could tell my employer about the problems when I divorced - maybe that is the thing to do. I am sad that ironically, although I am dealing with my debts, I can't apparently be forgiven...I never want credit again - but I do want to progress in my career. What can I do to minimise the damage on these wretched CRA searches? I don't know what I could have done to avoid the credit - I definitely should not have let it burgeon like it did though. Thanks for taking the time to reply to me. It is much appreciated. Xc

Puzzcat

make_the_change wrote: »

Morning All,

Basically I have been reading this thread with great interest due to my own circumstances.

I am in approx £8K worth of debt which I am really struggling to pay each month. I feel so sad that after getting debt free 4 years ago I am back to square one. Mostly due to personal circumstances taking a dramatic change and living well out of our means. It's become so depressing that I lay awake at night worrying, upset, depressed.

I have spoken to StepChange and they recommended a DMP. This makes me feel a sense of relief but also worry. I have read about building an emergency fund before starting a DMP and this would be much needed. I have already started a £1 a day challenge for Christmas 2016. I am just scared of the token payments and what will happen whilst I delay starting a DMP.

Advice / guidance greatly welcome. Just want to have one night where I can sleep without worry. Thanks.

Hi make the change and welcome to the thread,

As for what will happen, more than likely absolutely nothing.. you may get a few phone calls and will get letters but other than that... nothing..

The best way is to decide on a set up date, I did 3 months of token payments and then write to each creditor, I did post a template recently but shout out if you can't find it. Include a £1 token payment to each and then save what you would normally pay your creditors each month for your emergency fund.

With regards to phone calls, keep your stepchange ref number handy by the phone and if anyone calls tell them you are setting up a dmp with SC and give them the ref number.

If you have some time do read back this thread and the previous one if you can, lots of information available to reassure you and if nothing else it will probably put you to sleep..:D

Good Luck
Love Puzz. x

make_the_change

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi make the change and welcome to the thread,

As for what will happen, more than likely absolutely nothing.. you may get a few phone calls and will get letters but other than that... nothing..

The best way is to decide on a set up date, I did 3 months of token payments and then write to each creditor, I did post a template recently but shout out if you can't find it. Include a £1 token payment to each and then save what you would normally pay your creditors each month for your emergency fund.

With regards to phone calls, keep your stepchange ref number handy by the phone and if anyone calls tell them you are setting up a dmp with SC and give them the ref number.

If you have some time do read back this thread and the previous one if you can, lots of information available to reassure you and if nothing else it will probably put you to sleep..:D

Good Luck
Love Puzz. x

Thank you.

Do I write to the creditors now explaining I will be making token payments whilst I work with StepChange? Or just make token payments and then write to them when I am about to begin my DMP?

Yes, I found the template, thanks!

Puzzcat

make_the_change wrote: »

Thank you.

Do I write to the creditors now explaining I will be making token payments whilst I work with StepChange? Or just make token payments and then write to them when I am about to begin my DMP?

Yes, I found the template, thanks!

Hi,
Write to each creditor with a token payment every month until your dmp is set up and then sc will pay them.
Puzz.x

make_the_change

Great, thanks.

[Deleted User]

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the lovely people who have taken the time and trouble to respond to my various queries recently. I'll reply individually as soon as I can, but meanwhile:T:beer::A

Also, I've just received one of those new changes-to-agreement emails from StepChange. Haven't had a minute to open the PDFs to see if they're the same as other people have mentioned getting but I expect they are and they're just sending them out in batches;)

Spoonhead88

Hello fellow DMP people.

I'm just in the process of setting up a DMP through SC, I have three debts owed to two creditors Santander and Lloyds.

I owe about £4700 and with the budget i did with SC i can pay £145 which is great.

I was just curiouse to see how other people have found Santander and Lloyds when it comes to dmps? Do they freeze the interest?

BeingDebtFreeStartsHere

Spoonhead88 wrote: »

Hello fellow DMP people.

I'm just in the process of setting up a DMP through SC, I have three debts owed to two creditors Santander and Lloyds.

I owe about £4700 and with the budget i did with SC i can pay £145 which is great.

I was just curiouse to see how other people have found Santander and Lloyds when it comes to dmps? Do they freeze the interest?

Hi there

I can only speak for Lloyds as Santander are not one of our creditors. We have had no problem with Lloyds - they accepted our DMP payment without any quibbles. They also froze interest almost immediately and defaulted us after about 8 DMP payments :j

Good luck!

BDFSH x